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Backup/Recovery tools - Acronis vs Macrium
Please forgive me for not reading the whole "Window 10 Recovery Tools" thread before posting this, but that's a very long thread.
I am a long time user of Acronis True Image. Lately I've run into a few peculiarities that have me looking at alternatives. A number of people have recommended the free version Macrium Reflect, but I need the paid version to meat my requirements. I would like more information to help me decide. (Other products can be suggested, of course.)
My requirements are:
- I have to run the backups on 3 devices - 2 desktops and 1 laptop.
- The laptop backup goes to a NAS drive.
- I need to run full disk image backups on all 3 devices.
- I need to run file/folder backups of some files on the NAS drive from one of the PCs.
I've done 1 recovery using Macrium and 2 using Acronis. I had a couple false starts with Acronis because understand the process. I don't remember how easy the Macrium process was. I found configuring the backup process less straightforward with Macrium than with Acronis, but I recently discovered that Acronis has an exclusion list and was excluding files from its "Entire PC" backups. (Grrr!) All recoveries were successful.
I've had to recover old data a number of times. I've done it successfully from the Acronis backup and have walked through the process with the Macrium. Both work with no problem. Macrium mounts the backup image faster than Acronis, but I don't think it gives an option of the drive letter to use in mounting.
Tthe free version of Macrium Reflect does not take file/folder backups, and the cost of a 3 (actually 4) device license for Macrium Home costs quit a bit more than a 3 platform license for Acronis.
The Acronis doc says only file/folder backups can be taken to a NAS, but I'm taking "Entire PC" drive backups of the laptop to my NAS drive. I know for a fact that the Acronis stand-alone recovery systems cannot access a NAS drive. I would have to copy the backup to another drive before doing a drive recovery. I have not idea what the Macriun capabilities are regarding NAS.
I suspect I will continue using Acronis, but I would like to hear what other people think I should do.